Emaze on props

I have created an Emaze on implementing props into my short film.



Reflective Comment:
I am looking forward to adding props to my film. I think it will add more content to the film and add more depth to it. It'll also allow me to add more meaning to my film. 

Music for short film

For the music in my short film I turned to my friend Greg. Greg does A-Level music and was a part of my group last year for our starter task. I showed Greg my first draft and told him what type of music I wanted. I told him I wanted a curious and dreamy song, and he said he'd get back to me. Soon after he sent me a draft of a song. I liked the song and me and Greg had a bit of back and forth on how to improve the music.

I have now sent Greg my second draft of my short film with notes on what type of music I want for each scene. Greg is currently on holiday but once he is back he's going to work off my notes to make some more draft songs. With those we can test it with the footage and go forward from there.

I am having issues with attaching the music to my blog, but I will try get this sorted soon.

Reflective Comment:
Music is something that I really struggle with so I am glad that I am starting to make progress with. Hopefully I can get it out of the way sooner rather than later.

Audience feedback survey

I have completed and have just sent out my survey. My survey focuses on both the poster and the short film. Anyone doing the survey looks at the poster first, saying what they like and do not like and what they can infer. Then they watch the short film, and give me feedback on that. Then, they look at the poster again after watching the film and understanding the plot.

I'm putting my survey on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit. I'm hoping to get a lot of responses that are honest. When you show someone in person they're always too nervous to say anything negative, so once they can analyse it without me over their shoulder they're bound to be more honest about it.

Here are some screenshots of my survey.

Reflective Comment:

I am hoping to get real feedback which is critical and helpful. Hopefully with the feedback I receive I can better improve my short film in it's third draft, and the poster if need be. 

Dying Denial Second Draft

I have completed my second draft of Dying Denial. I have added the new footage that I filmed on the 23rd, and started the process of fixing the sound. (To an extent.) I am very happy with this draft, and I feel I only need one more day of filming to iron out any remaining issues. I still need to add some music, but I will be uploading a blog post soon about the music situation.

I am planning to put my second draft on Youtube soon and then posting the link on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit. I am going to create a survey and I am going to try receive helpful feedback. Twitter will have mostly teenagers answering, Facebook will have older people answering, and Reddit will be a bit of a mix.

Below I have attached the second draft. If that does not work you can watch it on Youtube.



Reflective Comment:
I am very happy with my second draft. Things are really starting to come together and I feel confident that I will be meeting the deadline that I have been set. The poster and magazine article are coming along nicely as well. 

Dying Denial Third Poster Draft

I have completed the third draft of my poster for my film! While it isn't finished yet, I think it's getting much closer to the being finished. The photo used is much better and I think my typography is getting better. I am soon going to show off my short film and poster together. The poster first, to see what people think the film is about, then after the film to see if they think it fits with it.

The effects on the typography.

Reflective Comment:

Just like my film, my poster is coming along nicely. I feel like I am getting closer to the final product with each attempt. The photo is much better and I am getting much more confident with my Photoshop skills. I believe I am on target to having my poster finished for the deadline. 

Photos for the posters and outside lighting

While I did spend the most of my time on the 23rd filming, I did try get a better photo for my poster. I was able to get some really nice photos that I think will fit very well. It was 2 o'clock when I started meaning that I was fighting against the sun, but I managed to make it work in my favour. Thankfully my good friend Fabian let me borrow his camera.

We will now go through the photos.

So first we tried from behind the two actors. The sun was coming in the from the top left corner, and made the lighting a little too harsh. I didn't really like what the lighting was looking like. However I did still like the way the sky faded with the blues.

I then tried the photo from the front. This worked even less. For a start, I don't want the poster from the front and this didn't convince me otherwise. I think it's too bright for the subject matter of the film and you can also see the shadows. The sun was behind me.

I then tried directly from behind and closer up. but this again made the sun too bright. Also, I didn't like the shadows that the actors were casting. It's also a little too close for my photo. The sun was directly on my left during the shot.

I then moved in line with the sun to experiment with what it would look like. This was a lot closer to what I wanted, just a bit too close and not at the correct angle. The lighting just looked perfect for the poster.

This was the photo I most happy with. I think the lighting here is best, with the two actors looking like silhouettes and the sky looking a nice faded blue. I think the photo is taken at a good distance, and the photo fits the rule of thirds quite well. I can have the information at the top, the title in the centre, and the two at the bottom. To capture this photo I had to go down the hill slightly, crouch down, and keep the out of shot. The sun is just on my left. This is the photo I am going to be using for the poster.

Reflective Comment:

I'm really happy with the photos that I was able to take. Working with natural light can be difficult and I'm glad that I could test out different angles. I am hoping to get another draft of the poster ready for the end of the week.

Poster Drafts

So below I have attached two posters ideas that I have created. The main difference being the location of the title and the second photo. My teacher suggested having two photos, one at the top and one at the bottom.

I also liked the idea of having just one photo, because I quite liked the emptiness that came along with it. I think with a cloud it looks quite good, however for the real poster I am going to need my own photo of a cloud, as I do not own the photo I have used for the draft.

I have got some better photos from my second day of filming, so I am going to re-create both the posters with the better looking photos. I will update the blog as soon as I have completed this.  

Reflective Comment:

I am quite happy with the progress I am making towards the completion of the poster. I am looking forward to using my new photos to try create a more professinal looking poster.